Silent Break
by The Phiraris Sarari
Summary: Naruto is about to die. At least, that’s what he thinks. Instead, he finds himself waking up in a mental hospital surrounded by doctors all telling him the same thing: his whole life, everything that happened, was just a hallucination…
1. Chapter 1

**Silent Break**

**A Naruto Fanfiction**

**By The Phiraris Sarari**

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

_**Summary:**_

_Naruto is about to die. At least, that's what he thinks. Instead, he finds himself waking up in a mental hospital surrounded by doctors all telling him the same thing: his whole life, everything that happened, was just a hallucination…_

**Some Credits:**

- My muse, whom I've taken to calling Gilly

- The Buffy episode Normal Again and the Charmed episode Brain Drain, which both have plots in many ways like this (though don't think they will play out the same way)

- And a little credit to the game The Company of Myself, just for inspiration instead of helping me form the story (if you've played this game, this credit still probably won't make much sense)

**A/N:**

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first installment of Silent Break. Before you start reading, a note: This story incorporates a few dark themes, though it is as much about new beginnings as it is about painful endings. There will be some swearing and violence, but for the most part this story deals with emotions and, in a sense, freedom. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

**Disclaimer:**

Surprise of all surprises, I don't own Naruto nor any of the Naruto characters or canon.

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

**Chapter One:**

**Broken Out**

Every muscle ached. Pains of fatigue and overuse as he'd never experienced before filled his every joint with crashing ache. His lungs strained to bring in more oxygen and his heart pounded so loud his ears hurt from the sound. Stopping for a light rest, Naruto grimaced and attempted to fight off his impulse to simply collapse onto the ground. Under any normal circumstance he would have passed out by now, or the Kyuubi would have taken over. He refused to do the former as it meant leaving his village to fend for themselves. The latter was completely out of the question, as he could not guarantee that he wouldn't lose control and turn on his own people. Therefore, he had to stay awake. He had to keep fighting, no matter how much his body protested against the decision.

A loud crashing sound came from his right, accompanied by an inhuman cry and several loud screams. Forcing his legs to move, Naruto began to run towards the sound. The sight he came across was once a rare one, but sadly these days was nothing short of expected. The Hachibi, the Eight Tails, had attacked a squadron of Konoha Shinobi. The now-lifeless bodies lay scattered about him. They were so bloody and mutilated they very well could have been some of Naruto's closest friends. There wasn't any way of knowing.

A single tear slid down his cheek. That was really the most he could manage now. He'd cried so often these last few days there were hardly and tears left in him.

It had been a few weeks ago that Madara Uchiha had released the dreaded tailed beasts on the shinobi nations. He had only captured eight of them (having finally obtained Killer Bee), but had decided to nonetheless to launch his attack without the Kyuubi. The first to fall had been the small minor villages. However, not much later Kiri fell to the Three Tails and Four Tails, Iwa and Kumo fallowing shortly behind while fighting off the Two, Six, and Seven Tailed Beasts. Just days ago Suna had been attacked by none other than Shukaku, the Ichibi. When Sakura told him that Gaara had died protecting his village, it had nearly killed him. That had been the last time grief was able to overcome him. When the report of Team Gai's downfall reached him, or even the news of the complete demise of the Hyuuga clan, he was too numb to feel much of anything.

The Hachibi now sensed his presence, and it turned to regard him. Naruto felt too stiff and too tired to do much of anything. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do. He didn't have the energy or chakra left to fight off a genin, let alone a tailed beast. But his musings didn't last long. In one mighty crash, a torrent of condensed chakra came tearing from the beast, heading straight for the Konoha ninja.

"_Boy-!" _The tremendous voice of the Kyuubi filled his head.

'There's no way out…' Naruto thought vaguely to the fox. 'I can't get away…'

He wasn't sure what to feel. A little scared, perhaps, and also a bit of sadness. Regret over not being able to save those precious to him, wishing things were different, that is was all just a horrible, horrible dream.

"_Boy, I cannot heal this!" _The Kyuubi roared inside his head.

'I know.'

"_Move, dammit, move!"_

'I can't.' And that was the truth. His legs were nothing more than useless masses of flesh at that point.

"_No! Move! I refuse to die!"_

Naruto didn't have time to reply before the wave of chakra hit him. For a brief moment pain worse than anything imaginable hit him. It felt like a fifty tons of lava-hot rock had hit him. Shock waves of agony sped through his system like fiery acid. But just as quickly as it hit him, it faded. A gentle feeling, like falling asleep, overcame his senses.

'And this is where it ends.'

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

It was dark, but not completely black. Instead, there was a strange reddish-brown tinge to the color. It was as if just beyond the darkness a light was shinning at him, tinting his current vision.

'But wait…' thought Naruto. 'That can't be right. When you're dead, it's supposed to be either pitch black or a bright light. But this is neither.'

Slowly, Naruto became aware of a discomfort, as though his body has been situated in a rather awkward position. But that couldn't be right, either. Death was supposed to alleviate all pain and bodily agony. While it was definitely not as bad as the force of the Hachibi's attack, it still hurt. A pair of hands suddenly started grabbing at him, repositioning his limbs until it was more comfortable. Then a blanket was placed over him. Since when were there blankets in heaven? Unless he was in hell, but it was doubtful there were blankets there either.

His eyes felt heavy, like small weights were placed on them. 'My eyelids?' His mind felt about until it reached the right muscles. Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to immediately narrow them.

A blinding, florescent light was glaring down at him from above, sending a sharp sting to his eyes and temporarily blinding him. Naruto allowed this eyes to adjust a little before he felt around for his arms and legs. Once he felt confident he had control of them, he slowly pushed himself into an upright position.

"Damn," he heard a soft, female voice comment. "I thought I'd have more time until he got back up."

Naruto looked ahead for the source of the voice. He saw a woman there that he didn't recognize. She was dressed in a plain white uniform, holding a clipboard and a syringe half-filled with some kind of substance. She regarded him with a look of anxiety and apprehension, as if she were waiting for him to do something.

"…" Naruto shook his head and tried to locate his voice. "Wh… wh…"

Confusion came across her face as she stared at him.

"Wh-where…" Naruto swallowed and forced the words out. "Where aaa..am I?"

The woman just stared at him in disbelief, as if she were very startled to hear him ask her a question. Yet she didn't reply.

"M-miss…" Naruto's voice began to regain its power, the sounds forming more quickly now. "C-can you t-tell me where I aaam?"

The woman looked as if she were about to faint. "You… are you talking to me?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to look confused. "Who else w-would I be talking to?"

Suddenly, the woman screeched. Not out of terror, but out of joy. She ran out of the room, leaving Naruto to stare after her in blatant confusion. He heard her ecstatic shouts echoing from down the hall. "He's back! The last ICHD patient is back!"

The woman then came running back, and fallowing her were several other people, all of whom were wearing either a similar uniform or a long, white overcoat and all of whom he did not recognize. Well, almost all of them he didn't recognize.

"I-Iruka?" His voice was so soft he doubted anyone heard him. Naruto could hardly believe his eyes. Iruka had been one of the early casualties in the Fourth Ninja War. He thought he'd never see him again.

Iruka smiled and walked up to him, giving him a quick hug. "Naruto! You're back! You're back! I'm so glad!"

Naruto didn't have the slightest idea what he was referring to, but he was happy to have the chance to hug his old – and apparently not deceased – sensei. Unfortunately, some of the others who were in the room pulled Iruka back so they could have more room to corner him like a pack of ravenous hyenas trapping their prey. They started to touch him all over, particularly his wrists and his neck. Some of them flashed lights in his eyes while others attached colored chords to his head. These chords in turn were attached to a machine that had a monitor that displayed, as far as Naruto could tell, random squiggly lines that made absolutely no sense.

"The EEG is completely normal," one of the random people declared in an awed voice. "Just like the others…!" At this the room stirred. Several people gawked at him, which only served to irritate Naruto.

"Sorry to interrupt your…" Naruto honestly had no idea what they were doing so he simply waved his hand and continued on. "But could someone please explain what in the hell is going on?"

Iruka pushed his way through the crowd of adults and squatted down in front of him. "Do you know who you are?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Of course."

Iruka looked at him expectantly, which caused Naruto to sigh. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said.

Iruka nodded. "And how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Do you know who I am?"

Naruto tried not to snort. "Duh. You're Iruka. You didn't think I'd forget you _that_ fast, did you?"

Iruka smiled at that, but that soon faded. "Naruto, where were you born?"

Naruto frowned at the sudden change in Iruka's mood. "In Konoha."

This answer caused Iruka to frown deeply. The people around him nodded sadly, as if they expected the answer but weren't happy with it. That just confused Naruto even more.

"What is your occupation?" Iruka asked next. "What do you do?"

The boy was reluctant to answer again, but didn't see an alternative option. "…I'm a Konoha shinobi. A ninja."

Iruka visibly flinched like the words themselves just slapped him the face. He nodded to himself and he stood up fully again. "Just like the others," he remarked in a heavy voice. "The exact same thing."

Naruto was almost frightened now. "What?" He asked, looking around. "What's going on? What are you talking about? What do you mean?"

Iruka turned to the others. "A moment, please?" When it looked like the others were about to protest, he continued on. "Look, you already checked his vitals and brain wave activity, and just like the others there was nothing wrong. I just need a few minutes, then you can go back to your testing."

The people in the room looked at each other and shrugged. Reluctantly, they left the room so Iruka and Naruto were alone. Iruka once more squatted down in front of the boy and looked him straight in the eye.

"Naruto…" he began. "I have to tell you something. I need to you to listen. You won't believe me, I'm sure, but it is the truth."

Naruto nodded, curious and worried.

Iruka sighed and continued on. "You are indeed Naruto Uzumaki, and you are eighteen years old, but you were not born in Konoha, and you are not a ninja."

"…What?" Naruto understood the words Iruka was saying, but they didn't make any sense. The older man looked sad and pressed on.

"There is a city in a country called Japan that's called Tokyo. Have you heard of either?" Naruto shook his head. "I didn't think so. Well, Naruto, you were born there." Naruto opened his mouth, but Iruka didn't stop. "Up until two years ago, you were a normal teenager. You aren't, never will be, and never have been, a ninja."

"Wh-what are you talking about, Sensei?" Naruto did not like where this was going.

Iruka looked down for a brief second. "I'm not sure what role I played in your world, Naruto, but I'm not your sensei. I… I'm your father. Not biologically, though. I adopted you after your parents died in a car crash."

"That's not right!" Naruto cried, his voice wavering. "M-my parents died when the Kyuubi attacked! My f-father sacrificed himself for the village! I wasn't adopted… y-you taught me at the academy. Y-you're Iruka-sensei! I d-don't… I d-don't…!"

Iruka wrapped his arms around Naruto tightly, to both comfort and restrain him. "Naruto, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But…" he hesitated. "Everything you think you know… all your memories… your life… that's just a lie. Everything you think happened to you… it was just a hallucination. It wasn't real. It was all a lie."

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

Naruto didn't know what to think. It had been just hours since he died/recovered from mental illness, and he couldn't yet tell if he was processing or simply in shock. His head raced, a thousand ideas whipping through his mind simultaneously. Emotions crashed through him a dozen at a time. At one moment he felt sorrow, anger, and bitterness while the next he felt happiness, relief, and hope. His sensei-made-father had explained to him that he was currently in a small city called Eikyu (in Japan, his apparent home country) in a mental hospital for, as Iruka referred to them, 'long-term patients.' For two years now he'd been there, trapped in some kind of never-ending hallucinatory alternate universe. He was constantly battling imaginary foes, his punches and kicks sometimes injuring real people who were near him. The doctors and psychiatrists did everything in their power to release him from his own mind, but all to no avail. He had been declared a hopeless case and for months it was all they could do to monitor him to make sure he didn't hurt himself or anyone else.

Iruka was made to leave so one of the doctors – the people who had been swarming into his room earlier – could run some tests. She was a nice woman who spoke to him kindly as she recorded several things the surrounding machines did.

"I know this must be a lot to take in," she said softly. "Of course, I can't imagine what it must be like, but I sympathize, I really do." She turned off the mechanical giant she had just been using and focused her attention on him. "So you don't remember anything?"

"I remember…" Naruto tried to from the right words. "I remember everything that didn't happen…" he looked at her, hoping to convey his meaning.

"You remember all of your alternate life," she interpreted. Naruto nodded to show that was indeed what he had tried to say. "But none of your – real – life?"

Naruto shook his head. That was the worst of it. He'd been here for two years now, but before that he had been completely normal. The first sixteen years of his life had been spent as a normal person. But all those memories, absolutely everything, had been erased from his mind completely, replaced with the fake memories from another life. Sixteen years – gone. Not even a small trace remained in his mind of what was once there. He only remembered his name and Iruka because they existed in his hallucination, in his imaginary world. If they hadn't, he wouldn't remember those either. They, too, would have been erased.

His parents had died when he was six. He would have had memories of them. Not many, but enough to at least assure himself they once existed. Now, just like in the imaginary world, he had none. He couldn't remember his mother's face or her voice. And he'd never get a chance to see her again.

He felt like screaming, like crying, like running about in circles cursing this world, his life, and anything else he felt like damning to hell. How was this fair? In a single second his whole life had been uprooted and in the next he was suddenly thrown into another. Maybe it would've been better if he never recovered. Yet at the same time he felt grateful. After all, _this _was his life. His world hadn't been uprooted. He had recovered from a severe illness (though exactly _how _he did so was unknown), and how could that be a bad thing? Iruka had died in his other world, but here he was alive and well. He could speak to him, talk to him, and have him there when he needed him most. Maybe, just maybe, there were others whose faces and names managed to cross the boarder from reality to imagination. Maybe there were others who had died in his hallucination who still existed here. That small shred of hope that some of the friends he watched fall still lived on here was enough to keep himself together. He resolved to talk to Iruka about it the first chance he had. When the doctor got up to leave, he asked her to send him in. She smiled and agreed to do so.

When Iruka came back into the room, the first thing Naruto did was run over to him and hug him. He needed to make sure he was really there. His sensei/father was surprised, but hugged him back. "Is there anything you need, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded and released the man. "I was wondering if… well, seeing as how you were in my hallucination…" Naruto frowned. The word tasted bitter on his tongue. It seemed almost… _rude _to refer to the shinobi world as such. Shaking his head, he continued. "I was wondering if there would be anyone else from my… _hallucination_… that also existed in this world. Like you."

Iruka nodded. "That's a definite possibility." Scratching his chin thoughtfully, he seemed to come to a conclusion. "I think it would be best if you got some sleep," he said. "I have a few phone calls to make." Iruka ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately and left the room.

At first, Naruto didn't understand how he was supposed to sleep in this situation. His mind was racing with too much new information to rest now. But once he laid back and stopped trying so hard to piece things back together, he was surprised by just how easy it was to fall into that deep realm of slumber. Even though he had, in a sense, just woken up, the reality was he hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Not since he last had a chance to back in his other world. The weariness he had felt during his final battle as a shinobi crept back into his body as he fell asleep.

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

"I can't believe it… is it really true, Umino-san?"

"I spoke to him just yesterday. He's only sleeping now."

"Should we wake him up?"

"Sasuke!"

"I think we should let him sleep for now."

"Keep your voices down, will you?"

Several voices reached Naruto through the haze of sleep. He recognized Iruka's voice immediately. The others, too, sounded familiar. He could quite yet make out what they were saying. Fighting against the drowsiness, Naruto slowly opened his eyes.

"Look, he's waking up!"

Naruto sat up, stretching his arms and yawned openly. Rubbing the last of the grogginess from his eyes, he looked around the room – and stopped abruptly. There was a group of people standing just to the right of his bed by Iruka. All of those faces, those voices he just heard, he recognized them! They were… they were…

"S-Sasuke! Sakura!" Those were the faces he noticed right away. Sakura… he never knew what became of her in his other world. He hadn't seen her for a few days and he had just begun to fear the worst. Sasuke… no one knew what became of the Uchiha prodigy gone AWOL. Shortly before the tailed beasts were set free Team Hawk had suddenly gone inactive. Whatever happened no one knew. None of the members, alive or dead, were ever found, leading people to believe maybe Madara had changed his mind and decided to kill them, perhaps feeding them to Zetsu. A month after their disappearance, the shinobi nations declared them all dead and stopped whatever manhunts they might have had. Naruto had always hoped Sasuke managed to save himself, but the lack of any proof of his continued existence began to way heavy on the Kyuubi-Jinchuuriki.

"N-Naruto," Sakura said, her face reflecting shock and joy. "I-I can't believe it… you're really…" She suddenly ran over and threw her arms around him. "Naruto!"

Naruto gladly returned the embrace to the girl he'd always loved. "It's so great to see you again, Sakura," he said, trying hard not to cry ecstatically. After a few more moments, the pinkette released her hold and stood back to give him some air, at which point Sasuke promptly stepped forward.

"Hey, dobe," he greeted unceremoniously. It was clear that, even in this world, the stoic Uchiha didn't care much for cheesy reunions. Naruto was a little glad; it wouldn't be the Sasuke he knew otherwise.

"Hey, you friggen' teme," Naruto replied just as bluntly. The ghost of a smirk crossed Sasuke's face for just a moment before the other new arrival in the room made his presence known.

"Ay, Naruto, you didn't forget me, did you?"

Naruto looked over to see none other than Kiba Inuzuka standing there, a grin on his face. The way he asked the question was teasing, but Naruto could see the real worry underneath it. As sad as it was, the truth was maybe Naruto _did _forget him.

And in a sense, he did.

Naruto smiled. "I know you, Kiba. And I know you, Sakura. And you, Sasuke. But…" Naruto's smile fell. "I don't remember you."

The three guests looked at him, confused.

Naruto sighed. He didn't want to elaborate, but what choice did he really have? "I only recognize you because… all of you also existed in my… _hallucination_…" Still, the word was bitter. "But I don't remember you from this world. I know you as my friends in my world, but I… don't know what you're actually like in this one."

Sakura looked away, struggling with tears. Kiba looked sad and Sasuke looked… well, like Sasuke. He walked over to Naruto and sat down at the corner of the bed.

"As you know, I'm Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke stated. "I live in Tokyo, where you used to live. We've gone to school together ever since we were kids. You're my classmate and my friend."

Kiba, fallowing Sasuke's example, walked over as well. "Inuzuka Kiba. I also live in Tokyo. I didn't meet you until middle school but we became pretty good friends all the same. Iam your _best_ friend." He gave a sharp glare towards Sasuke, which caused Naruto to chuckle.

Sakura turned her head back to her friend. "I am Haruno Sakura. I've known you for almost as long as Sasuke has. You're my best male friend."

Naruto had, though he wouldn't admit it, secretly been hoping for boyfriend, but he would take what he could get. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Up until, well, yesterday, I thought I was a ninja living in Konoha."

"A ninja, huh?" Sasuke was evidently trying not to look amused. "A bad one, I assume."

"Oh, please!" Apparently, his rival relationship with Sasuke crossed between worlds. "I totally kicked your ass! On numerous occasions, might I add."

"Then obviously you didn't represent me right," Sasuke retorted. "No way I'd lose to _you_."

"Ha! You wouldn't believe how many times I saved your sorry butt! Like during that fight with Gaara—"

Naruto would've continued if it hadn't been for Iruka's all-too-noticeable flinch. "Iruka? What's up? You look startled."

Iruka shook his head. "No… it's nothing… no, that can't… it's not…" Iruka suddenly seemed to regain himself. "Visiting hours are over." Sakura, Sasuke, and Kiba all began to protest. "Look, I'm sorry, but you have to leave."

The three waved good-bye in between glares at Iruka as they were shooed out of the room.

"How can visiting hours be over?" Naruto complained. "It's like ten in the morning!" Translation: I've just gotten to meet up with my friends after two years and you're taking them away?

Iruka looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Naruto. But I want to talk to you, and I don't want to get any more people involved then necessary." Iruka hurried over to him. "You mentioned Gaara, did you not?"

Naruto grunted affirmatively.

"Well…" Iruka stopped to organize his thoughts. "You aren't the only one this has happened to, you know." Naruto's eyes widened considerably. "There have been eight others. You're the ninth."

'Wait… this sounds eerily familiar…'

"And patient number one is Sabaku no Gaara."

'Oh yes, definitely familiar.'

"So, Gaara has the same thing I do?"

"Had. He came back to us, well, almost a week ago. He's still here, actually, they haven't released him just yet."

There were things clicking in Naruto's brain, but it was hard to bring them to the surface. And the look on Iruka's face was telling him there was still something else. "…And?"

"Well, Naruto…" Iruka paused. "There are two types of people in hallucinations. Those formed based on people you actually know, or people that are completely unreal. But this is neither."

"Huh?"

"Well, Naruto, the thing is… Gaara is a real person, not completely made up. But you don't know him either. The fact is he isn't from this part of Japan. You shouldn't be able to name him because, well, you've never even met him before."

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

**End of Chapter One**

For all who have made it this far, a word of thanks. This was actually a lot of fun to write. I hope the ending was clear enough. It's the best stopping point I can think of right now.

Just to note, I'm not a doctor or psychiatrist, and research makes me nauseous. So, I'm just kind of making educated guesses here. If I get anything wrong, feel free to correct me. So, just for your information, EEG (which stands for something long and hard to remember) measures brain wave activity. ICHD (Idiopathic Chronic Hallucinatory Disorder) is something I made up because I didn't see any diagnoses that would fit during my brief glances at hallucination disorders.

Thank you for reading. All reviews are appreciated.

-The Phiraris Sarari


	2. Chapter 2

**Silent Break**

**A Naruto Fanfiction**

**By The Phiraris Sarari**

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

_**Summary:**_

_Naruto is about to die. At least, that's what he thinks. Instead, he finds himself waking up in a mental hospital surrounded by doctors all telling him the same thing: his whole life, everything that happened, was just a hallucination…_

**Some Credits:**

- My muse, whom I've now decided to call Esteban

- The Buffy episode Normal Again and the Charmed episode Brain Drain, which both have plots in many ways like this, though they will not play out the same

- The reviewers, who were my inspiration for this chapter

**A/N:**

I now present the second installment of Silent Break. I'd like to first give all my thanks to all those who read Chapter One. A special thanks to all those who added Silent Break either on favorites or alerts. An extra special thanks to all those who reviewed. As to whether or not there will be pairings: Not really. Note that this isn't a romance story. There will be some minor background pairings that won't be focused on in any significant detail, but, as for now, there aren't any pairings involving Naruto himself, though I'm not entirely sure whether I will fit one in or not. If I do, it won't effect the main plot of the story.

**Disclaimer:**

Just like I told the lawyers, I don't own Naruto.

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

**Chapter Two:**

**Broken Barriers**

Iruka went to take care of his other duties, leaving a pensive Naruto behind.

He knew Gaara. He did. He'd met him, spoken to him, fought against him as enemies and alongside him as allies. They were friends, drawn to each other by their similar lives and pain and kept together by their recovery from the past and the promise of a better future. Gaara's death struck Naruto like an electroshock wave: it hit with a sudden onslaught of pain and the aftermath left him emotionally numb. He felt genuine grief for his friend. There was no way he couldn't know him.

But he shouldn't. Not by any realistic standards. They'd never actually met before. Not in this world. How could he know someone he'd never met? How could he be in his hallucination without being in his life outside of it? How did any of this make any sense?

Before he left, Iruka told him that Gaara, like he, had thought himself a ninja. He thought he'd been born in Suna. He and Naruto had essentially shared the hallucinatory world. '_Because that isn't impossible at all.'_ No psychiatrist knew of anything like this ever happening, not to such a dramatic degree. This kind of thing only appeared in the more implausible branches of fringe psychology. It was like buying a five hundred piece puzzle set, going home, then realizing, while there are indeed five hundred pieces, they are from nine different puzzles. Sure, they make sense on their own, but they simply do not fit together. But they have to, don't they?

There were too many questions without answers. Too much uncertainty as to whether there even _were _answers at all. Or, if they did exist, whether he could ever find them. He didn't know how to face situations like this. He was never a genjutsu-type ninja, and for good reason. He never had much skill at mind games. He picked an idea and stuck with it; leave the puzzles and strategies for Shikamaru. Unfortunately, he was on his own for now.

Naruto summoned all he knew of the other jinchuuriki. When they first met, during the Chuunin Exams, he'd been, in a word, unbalanced. He was treated like something worse than dirt by his village, feared by his siblings, seen as an experiment-gone-wrong by his father, and to top it all off he was forced into insomnia by his unwelcome demonic guest. He couldn't blame the poor kid; if anyone had a reason to be a bloodthirsty psychotic, he certainly did. After their battle, however, he changed. He was by no means the picture of virtue, but he'd toned down the insanity substantially and had even gained favor among his fellow shinobi. When Shukaku was removed, he had become so different everyone wondered what had happened during his temporary death. He even seemed more compassionate, and had even gone so far as to shed tears over Sasuke's fate. He was the same, but different. It was like an entirely different version of Gaara.

It began to make Naruto wonder. He had snapped out of it when he died, and it seemed Gaara had as well. In his world, the Kazekage died a week ago. In this world, he recovered a week ago. It appeared death was the cure, as paradoxical as it sounded. Gaara, before he recovered his body from Deidara, had been dead. Naruto wondered if he came back here. Had he recovered temporarily? Chiyo and he… they brought him back, but what if not from the dead? What if they brought him back from recovery? He could've been free and all they did was cage him again.

He couldn't stand the biting suspense; he had to know.

He had to talk to Gaara.

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

The laboratory's aesthetics were eerily similar to that of a nightmare prison cell. The walls were made of rough stone that had the miraculous ability to be damp twenty-four/seven. The floor was cement and stained unnatural colors of sickly green, bile yellow, and disturbing red-brown. It was always cold, even in the middle of summer. Not the kind of cold one would find in low temperatures and winter weather, but instead the cold that came from the absence of anything truly good or right. Cold that sent shivers of fear down everyone's spine.

In the lab were two long metal tables set with numerous odd devices, bottles and bottles of unnamed liquids, papers filled with notes and sketches, abandoned gloves and goggles, and numerous other things. In addition there was a desk towards the far back of the room. On it was a solitary lamp, an ancient computer, and a large mess of newspaper clippings, photographs, and old letters.

Behind this desk sat a man. He was clearly aging, but despite this his long hair remained stubbornly black. His eyes were unnervingly snakelike and his skin was horrifically pale. He was currently holding a single photo in his hands. On it a group of people were pictured, all wearing extravagant black cloaks with red cloud prints. The man stared at this photo with both dislike and nostalgic longing in his eyes. When he heard the soft clutter of footsteps, he set the photograph down and looked up expectantly.

"Orochimaru-sama!"

A young man, no older than twenty-two, entered the room. Just as the old man's hair was still black, the young man's hair was prematurely gray and worn in a ponytail at the back of his head. His eyes were decked with black-rimmed glasses that often slipped down the bridge of his nose. He was pulling behind him a man not much older than himself who looked immensely terrified.

"What is it, Kabuto?" The older man asked, his words twisting oddly to give him an even more snake-like aura. "Have the subjects been making more trouble?"

"Not exactly," came the reply. "However, one of the employees would like to tell you something." He roughly shoved the frightened man forward.

The man gulped, glancing back at Kabuto in worry. The boy glared at him, signaling with his eyes to hurry it up. Shivering, the man closed his eyes and turned toward the snake-like figure. "O-Orochimaru-sama, s-sir…" he swallowed. "I've lost… I've lost the connection." He flinched back as the words left his mouth, expecting retaliation. When he got none, he hesitantly opened his eyes.

Orochimaru did not seem upset by the news. He simply nodded to himself. "That is all very well. It's about time, too." He slowly stood up, causing the man to cower in fear. "I suspect the boy's come to, then?"

"He has," Kabuto verified, ignoring the trembling figure between him and his boss. "I had one of my contacts at the hospital verify it this morning."

"Good, good," he muttered offhandedly. "I suppose you'll be taking care of this one then, hm?"

The man shook violently. "N-no! Please, sir, please…!"

"Oh, calm down, Number Nine," Orochimaru hissed in his snake-like tone. "What do you think I'm going to do? I'm simply having Kabuto escort you out, as your work here is no longer necessary. There will be, of course, a handsome reward in your bank accounts for your valuable service."

The man's trembling subsided somewhat. "O-oh…"

Orochimaru jerked his head to signal Kabuto. "Do show him to the door, will you? The halls are confusing, and we can't have him getting lost."

The gray-haired boy nodded, and held the door open for the man who gladly hurried out. Kabuto started to follow, looking back at Orochimaru one last time. With a nod, he wrapped his hand around the gun at his belt and hurried after the man known only to him as Number Nine.

Orochimaru turned, coming face to face with a man who had not been there before. He was of Orochimaru's age, or perhaps older, and had the same stubborn black hair and a set of dark, aloof eyes. "Madara," the snake-man said simply in greeting to the new arrival. There was only one entrance to the room, which he had been watching all this time, but no questions were asked as to how the visitor got in. For two men as cunning and deceptive as they such things were trivial. Orochimaru went over to one of his tables where an old bottle of wine sat. He poured two glasses and offered one to his guest, which was accepted readily.

Sampling the drink, Madara cast his eyes to the door. "Is that the last of them, then?"

Orochimaru smirked. "It was. Kabuto's taking care of him now." Just as he said this, the boy returned, wiping the blood off his hands with a cloth. When he noticed Madara, he instantly turned around and walked away, knowing not to interrupt at these meetings.

Madara turned to the snake-like man. "So are you now done with these experiments? I have to say these last couple of years have been painfully redundant. For people with so much power, the Akatsuki manage to lead relatively _boring_ lives. Keeping track of them like this is positively irksome."

The other chuckled. "Everything seems boring to us, Madara. Such is the curse of living in a much more interesting way."

Madara huffed. "No doubt you've kept yourself entertained these past few years. You got the more exciting part of the plan. All I've been doing is looking over financial records and hunting through tabloids." He frowned in distaste. "How is it people read such things for nothing more than their own entertainment? I honestly do not understand how the lives of people you've never met before, and in all likelihood never willmeet, is appealing news to anyone. Worse, the entire thing was pointless. Our special friends have kept the scandals down to a minimum as of late. No doubt they are rather anxious in light of current circumstances."

"As well they should be," his companion added with a smirk.

The Uchiha nodded. "Certainly they've recognized the patterns by now. Not that it will do them any good, of course. They'll have a little time to squirm – which will no doubt be amusing – but they will be nothing more than our puppets before they have the good sense to try and stop us." He raised his now barely-filled glass in a toast to which the other replied eagerly.

"Indeed," Orochimaru replied. "And my apologies if gossip was not to your liking. But it is clear that of the two of us, I am the man of science. It's best we stick to what we're good at, no?"

"It seems, my friend, you are under the impression that my only skill is acting like a teenage girl."

"Hardly. I'm merely saying that if we ever need support from the political world, I will be leaving that in your hands. But in matters such as this, is it not best I be the one to take the lead?"

Madara finished his glass and set it down on the table. "Never mind all that. Just please tell me you've finished your research."

Orochimaru grinned, this time looking more like the Cheshire cat then a snake. "Indeed I have. I'm quite pleased, too. The results are better than I hoped for."

"Is that so?"

The snake-like man's eyes glowed. "Oh yes. 'AU:113' is a success."

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

Naruto growled under his breath. He was sure he hadn't been walking all that long, but it felt like hours had passed. It was far too easy to get lost in the labyrinth that was the hallways of the mental hospital. The bland white paint, the metal carts filled with the unidentified and sometimes semi-frightening objects, the occasional nurse or doctor… it was the same everywhere. It made Naruto wonder if the hospital, with this kind of migraine-inducing setup, could really make people better or instead just make them more crazy. The complete lack of anything to differentiate one hallway from another was so incredibly disconcerting he was certain it would only stunt recovery if anything.

He'd snuck out of him room earlier, despite Iruka's firm forbidding against it. He'd intended to find Gaara to, hopefully, make some sense of what had recently happened. The idea, it seemed, worked better in theory. He could no longer remember the way to get back. He also didn't particularly want to ask for directions, and not just because he was a man. If his doctors found out he left his room without permission they would probably keep a much closer eye on him. He'd never be able to get out again.

When Iruka first told him he would be staying at the institution for a little while longer, he didn't understand why he couldn't just leave now. He was recovered, wasn't he? Iruka said it was because they wanted to monitor him to make sure he didn't relapse. At first that sounded stupid, but then he remembered that, if his hypothesis was correct, that would've been exactly what happened to Gaara when Chiyo and he 'rescued him.' It didn't seem like an unreasonable precaution when he thought of it that way. Therefore, he was certain his doctors, and his apparent father as well, wouldn't be too happy if they found him disobeying their orders.

"What does it matter now anyway?" He grumbled to himself, trudging through the endless sea of white. "Someone must've noticed I'm gone by now."

Naruto walked up to a door and pushed it open, stepping inside. Or perhaps the better term would be outside. The moment the heavy obstacle moved aside he was suddenly greeted with the image of a sparsely filled parking lot underneath an open, black sky speckled with stars. Naruto halted his footsteps. 'Is this the exit?'

With a heavy thunk, the door shut behind him. He tried to open it again, but it had locked upon closing. "Come on," he said, pulling and pulling. "If the point of a mental hospital is to keep people _in, _why is it only locked from the outside?"

"Perhaps there are people they are trying to keep out as well."

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden appearance of a new voice. He was so used to being a ninja, and consequently being able to sense the presence (that is to say, chakra) of others, that being snuck up on had long since become a foreign occurrence. Once his heart calmed down from the surprise, it was suddenly stuck again my the now familiar jolt of recognition: he knew that voice.

The boy spun around rapidly and was greeted by the sight of the person he had gotten lost looking for.

"Gaara!" Momentarily forgetting all the rules of personal space, he gave his now living friend a hug. "You're here!"

"Evidently," came the cool reply as the blonde's captive broke free of the dreaded display of friendship. He had the same shockingly bright red hair that Naruto remembered as well as the same green eyes that were framed with dark circles. "I heard you woke up."

Naruto nodded. "Only this morning." He stopped. "Or was it yesterday…?" He looked up at the stars that shone lightly down at him. "I guess I don't know how long its been, really. I don't even know what day it is."

"Understandable," Gaara replied. "Time has a way of slipping out of consciousness without our realizing it."

Naruto looked toward his friend. "Actually, it's good I came across you out here. I've been looking for you, as it so happens. It's the reason I got stuck out here. I have some things I need to ask you."

"I knew you would have questions," the other replied. "Just as I know I do not have the answers for them."

Naruto frowned. "You can't know that. I haven't even said anything yet."

"Do you need to? I'm just as you are, Naruto. I was in our other world and in this one as well. What could I possibly know that you do not? I have only my memories of the false life I had in my mind. I remember meeting you, though we've never met. I'm no different."

"But when you died that first time," Naruto pressed on. "Did you come here? Did you get better? Did you… Did I… make a mistake when I helped resurrect you?"

Gaara sighed. "You made no mistake. I did come back here and I was here for a few hours. I remember." He looked toward Naruto. "And then suddenly I was there again, with you, Chiyo, and everyone else. But I do not believe it was you who brought me back.

Naruto looked at him questioningly. "What did, then?"

The redhead shrugged. "Whatever brought me there in the first place. Illness, insanity… I can only guess. Whatever it was didn't have anything to do with you. It couldn't have. That wouldn't make any sense."

"But _none _of this makes any sense! How can you be certain it wasn't my fault?"

Gaara frowned and thought about his answer for a few moments. "I'm not sure what it was exactly," he said eventually. "It felt like something was dragging me back. Not you, though. It wasn't you. It felt like something else… I don't know how to explain it. Like something… cold. Dark. Forceful. All I knew was that it wasn't the first time it dragged me into that strange world. I recognized it, like it had happened before."

Naruto listened quietly, and tried to remember. But as hard as he searched for any recollection of what happened before his world consumed him, he found nothing. Nothing but an empty void the meaningless, false memories of his other life tried in vain to fill.

"But it wasn't the same when I got back," his friend continued on. "When I awoke, Shukaku was gone. But that wasn't all. I had the distinct impression some things was different – off. I was confused, for one. I couldn't decide which was real: the shinobi world or this one. I couldn't tell if the brief span of time here was reality or just some kind of post-mortem vision. But I pushed all that aside. I couldn't find any answers so I stopped looking for them. Eventually, I was able to ignore it, push it away, pass it off as some strange one-time thing. But the absence of that distraction only alerted me to the second problem.

"It seemed like everything was so much more _predictable_. Like everything I thought would happen did happen. Things I hoped for came to be just as things I feared would happen always did somehow, someway. It was like the world suddenly decided to orient itself around my thoughts. It only made me suspect even more than none it was real. It felt like a simple, generic storybook. Suddenly I was able to understand and emphasize with everything because there were no longer any barriers between my emotions and someone else's. Between my story and another's. Between my memories and the memories of another person. When the demon, my demon, came, I wasn't afraid to die. I rushed out without a second thought to my mortality. To be honest, I figured that if I lived, all was well, and if I died, at least I would finally get the answer to the question that had been never once left me all of that time. Either way, it didn't matter. And then, just as it was the first time, I was here again. I was back."

Naruto stayed silent for some moments after Gaara finished, considering what he had said. "So exactly what are we to do now?"

"We try to readjust ourselves. We may not remember our old lives, but we did have them at some point. It won't be simple, but eventually things will have to gain some semblance of normalcy. After all, what else can we do?"

Naruto gave a small smile. "Iruka said we don't live anywhere near each other, but I don't want that to mean we can't be friends anymore."

Gaara rolled his eyes. "In our hallucination we hardly ever saw each other, and that never stopped us from being friends before."

Naruto couldn't help grinning, but that slid off his face when the door opened and a very unhappy looking Iruka stuck his head out.

"Naruto…"

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

"I said, and I quote, 'Do not let him leave this room.' Those were my _exact _words. Which part did you not understand?"

"I'm _so_ sorry. My brother wanted some fresh air and I had the _audacity _to let him go outside. How will I ever live with myself?"

"Hey! Don't you get sarcastic with me, you good-for-nothing idiot!"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Whatever? _Whatever? _You know what, Kankuro? Just forget everything I've ever said to you. Never listen to me again. Don't mind me, anybody, I'm just trying to help my youngest brother out. Just pretend I'm not here!"

"Temari, calm down, will you?"

"Shut up, Kankuro!"

Gaara sat quietly as his two siblings bickered about Kankuro letting him out of his room/makeshift prison cell. The entire situation reminded him eerily of the time he was locked in his room during the Chuunin Exams and he, getting rather fed up with it, left to go and kill Rock Lee. He knew it wasn't the same; his brother and sister were only trying to help him now. But it disturbed him nonetheless. Naruto and Iruka were standing in the room, watching the argument along with him. Naruto explained the situation to Iruka, and it seemed all was forgiven after his son (a surprising new twist the Gaara had only just learned about) gave him a good reason for disobeying him. Similarly, Temari didn't seem to be mad at Gaara at all, only at Kankuro, who was apparently completely at fault here.

"If you had just done as I asked…"

"Oh, lay off."

"What if something happened out there? He could have been hurt or kidnapped or killed or gotten frostbite or-"

"For God's sake, woman, get a grip!"

Naruto and Iruka looked at Gaara for instructions as for what they should do when Temari started hitting Kankuro over the head repeatedly with her purse. He just waved them off. The only sensible thing was to do nothing; she would only start hitting one of them if they interrupted, and what would be accomplished then?

"You stupid-!"

_Whack, whack, whack!_

"Ow! Stop that! Hey!"

_Whack, whack, wh-!_

"Give me back my purse!"

"Like hell!"

One of the hospital's doctors entered to room and for a few seconds stared, wide-eyed, at the scene before him. Shaking his head, he took a breath and hesitantly walked over. "I'm sorry to interrupt…" He paused when he was met with the dual glares of the elder Sabakus. "But seeing as how you don't seem to busy …" He stopped again as the glares intensified. "There are still some things that need to be discussed."

"What kind of things?" Temari asked, momentarily pushing away her anger at her brother. "We've already filled out all of the papers. Shouldn't we be able to take Gaara back home now?"

"Normally, we would allow your brother to be discharged after the condition has been enactive for this amount of time, as long as he routinely takes the prescribed pills and attends all his check-ups, but we're going to have to ask you to stay a little longer."

Kankuro frowned. "What? Why?"

"Well, sir, your benefactor… insisted… that we take some more tests and compare them to other cases, particularly Uzumaki's."

"You can't just make us-"

"No I cannot, but I think you may have to. Your benefactor will be the one to pay for all of your hospital bills, medicine, routine check-ups. You agreed to this when your brother first came here. He's made it clear he will not be paying for anything unless you consent to undergo these extra procedures."

Kankuro opened his mouth to argue more, but Temari cut him off. "Alright. I understand. We won't leave until they're finished."

The doctor nodded and left to go order the tests.

Kankuro turned to his sister with harsh eyes. "Why'd you agree to this?"

Temari glared right back. "What do you think, Kankuro? Didn't you hear what he said? He's not paying for anything unless we agree to this! We have to do as he asks, Kankuro. If we could've paid by ourselves, we wouldn't have agreed to let him in the first place."

Her brother swore and clenched his fist. "That man… one minute he's a saint the next he's the devil's spawn."

Temari frowned disapprovingly. "Don't say such things. He's not that bad. Sure, he's asking us to do something, but he had every right to. He's paying for everything, he's perfectly entitled to a few measly extra tests. Besides, he really cares for Gaara. I'm sure he's only doing this for his own good, in any case."

Kankuro just scoffed. Gaara took the opportunity to speak up.

"You're having financial problems because of me?" He asked quietly.

Instantly his sister rushed to reassure him. "No, no. It's just… it's hard to pay on our own. Kankuro and I don't have the best jobs. So when our uncle offered to pay, we thought we'd take him up on it…"

"Uncle?" Gaara tried to repress the rising memories. "Yashamaru…"

"Oh, no," Temari frowned. "He's dead, Gaara. He has been for a while. He…" She dropped the trail of thought. "I'm talking about Uncle Sasori."

Gaara's eyes widened and Naruto nearly choked on his own spit.

"Did you say Uncle _Sasori!?_"

~~~ - _Silent Break_ - ~~~

**End of Chapter Two**

For all of you who made it to the end of this chapter, some more thanks. I certainly hope you liked this chapter. I debated whether or not to leave the Orochimaru scene in there, and eventually decided to do so. I hope he and Madara didn't come off as sounding like they were trying hard to sound fancy. I tried to make their speech sound more sophisticated, and I hope it turned out okay.

Again, if I make any technical mistakes (as I'm sure I will), or mistakes of any other kind, feel free to correct me. I only edited through this once (the first chapter I read over some five or six times) and therefore there might be mistakes that have eluded me.

Thanks very much for reading. All reviews are appreciated.

-The Phiraris Sarari


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